|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 16, 2024 23:09:08 GMT -5
The University of Rio Grande, an Ohio NAIA school, is bringing back football in 2025.
They are located about the same distance from both Dayton and Morehead. I would not be surprised to see them on a PFL schedule a few years from now.
The preferred pronunciation of their name is RYE-o grande.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 16, 2024 22:21:53 GMT -5
I'll use this thread to slip in a bit of hockey news...
St. Thomas is moving to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC), the nation's best hockey conference, in 2026. The Toms are making good progress in D-I.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 14, 2024 13:52:14 GMT -5
Not related to the PFL, but Richmond has announced plans to join Patriot League football in '25.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 14, 2024 13:48:50 GMT -5
Dwelley and Saubert now seem to be chasing each other around the league. The Falcons are the team that drafted Saubert.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 10, 2024 16:28:02 GMT -5
The following was written two months ago.
Skip to content First Alert Weather News
Where do things stand between Augustana & Summit League?
By John Gaskins Published: Mar. 11, 2024 at 10:42 PM CDT SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) — Once again, several thousand South Dakotans filled the lower bowl of the PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls on a Monday afternoon, roaring on their favorite in-state team in the Summit League Tournament.
It’s a tradition and a party unlike any other in the state, and maybe the nation. Before the game, droves of red-clad South Dakota fans and blue-decked South Dakota State faithful walked in and shared laughs — and maybe a few beers — together before things got serious on the court.
Looming over that court, high above on a wall behind one of the baskets, is a giant sign promoting Augustana University, a Sioux Falls-based former rival of both Div. I schools from the old Div. II North Central Conference days. There’s another bright Augustana sign in the corner of the arena, near the floor, above a tunnel where teams run out from the locker room to the court.
The signs have been there for a few years now, dating back to even before the school publicly put together a charge to join the Div. I athletics and the Summit League in 2020.
There’s a decent chance some of those Jackrabbit fans and Coyote fans catch a glimpse of those signs and think about both Augie’s absence, and about a presence someday in the city’s, and state’s, biggest college sports party.
Just in case they hadn’t thought about it, Dakota News Now asked a few fans.
“I think locally, it would be well-received,” said Chad Quissell, SDSU alumnus and fan and Sioux Falls native. “Just another local team to add to the mix.”
The Jacks had left Div. I and the North Central Conference, and therefore their rivalry with Augustana, before Quissell attended the land grant institution in Brookings. Quissell’s friend Dave Fischer, though, is a little older and vividly remembers the NCC tussles with Augie.
Although Fischer said he doesn’t recall “much of” a rivalry, he’d love to see the Vikings re-join the Jacks and Yotes in the Summit League and its Sioux-Falls based tournament.
“I think it would be another rivalry that would be formed, between Augie, SDSU, and USD,” Fischer said. “I think it would be a positive thing, something to look forward to. You can’t beat that in-state rivalry.”
But a USD alumnus from the 1990′s and Summit League regular attendee had a different — or, more so, indifferent — view on an Augie membership.
“I didn’t really grow up in an era where we cared about Augie all that much,” said Eric Asmus, a Mitchell native and Sioux Falls resident who is a football season ticket holder and makes it down to Vermillion to as many men’s and women’s basketball games as he can.
“So, if they joined the conference, so be it. It’s not going to keep me up at night one way or the other.”
Four years ago, Augustana campaigned aggressively to wow and woo the members of the Summit League president’s council, the group of school leaders of the conference’s membership institutions. A campus tour and presentations were made in the spring of 2020.
On May 27, 2020, just six months after St. Thomas University in St. Paul was admitted, the council told Augie “no.” At the time, the school made this statement:
“While we are disappointed in The Summit League’s decision at this time, we recognize the ever-evolving and shifting landscape within intercollegiate athletics. Just as we have grown as a university and athletics department over the past 10 years, we look forward to even more growth this decade.”
Leaders also said they still had a goal to become a Division I program, part of the original strategic plan for 2030 called “Viking Bold.”
Four years later, as the college sports landscape and conference affiliations have indeed evolved, Dakota News Now decided to check in on where both the school and the league sits with a possible membership someday.
Last month, Summit League commissioner Josh Fenton told a room full of business leaders in downtown Sioux Falls that the conference, ideally, prefers to have an even number of members.
It currently has nine. DNN asked Fenton after that event if Augustana is on the council’s radar.
“We’ve been taking more of a holistic approach to our membership, and what are the opportunities out there that may add value, and have had not much discussion about Augustana,” said Fenton.
This, Fenton says, is partly because in 2021, the school decided to pivot to a vision of one Division I sport — men’s hockey, a sport Augie didn’t offer at the time. The Vikings would remain playing Div. II athletics in every other sport as a continued member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
The school also announced that year its plan to build a new $40 million arena, with funding from T. Denny Sanford, Midco, Sanford Health, and several other major donors. The final price tag was about $70 million.
Three years later, the Vikings just completed their first season on the ice in front of raucous, roaring crowds in their new facility, Midco Arena. With that kind of momentum and support, DNN reached out to Augustana athletics director Josh Morton about the possibility of working toward Div. I status in other sports and again applying for membership in the Summit League.
Morton declined an interview. DNN received this statement from the university:
“Augustana athletics is focused on two goals as we continue executing the Viking Bold strategic plan; build a nationally-competitive men’s hockey program that competes at the Division I level and win the Division II Director’s Cup. While we are aware of, and monitoring, the constant changes in the collegiate athletics landscape, Augustana is not actively pursuing a Division I all-sports conference invite.”
Just as it did after the Summit League rejected its membership in 2020, the school referred to the ever-changing college sports landscape. With seismic shifts among the largest schools and conferences at the Div. I level filtering down, it feels like anything could change anytime at any level.
And it has. Just look at SDSU in 2003 and USD a few years later, moving to Div. I along with old NCC foes North Dakota State (2003) and eventually North Dakota. It all essentially ended the NCC and morphed into the NSIC.
Just look at the Summit League, formed as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1982 and for about 20 years was mostly comprised of schools Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. It has had 32 different member institutions.
None of the current nine are original members are original members. The footprint now includes none of those states, has moved its office from the Chicago area to Sioux Falls, has five former NCC schools (the Dakota schools and Nebraska-Omaha), and an I-29 geographic footprint — North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Nebraska-Omaha, Missouri-Kansas City — with an eastern detour to the Twin Cities (St. Thomas), a western detour to Colorado (University of Denver), and a southwestern detour to Tulsa (Oral Roberts).
In other words, the only constant in the Summit League’s history has been change.
So, what if more changes? What if Augustana decides after some honeymoon time with hockey that it’s ready to be even more “bold” and try the leap to Div. I in the non-hockey sports and apply for the Summit League again?
What would be the components the conference’s president’s council would consider?
”Geography, financial opportunities, recruiting markets, media market is significant, institutional fit,” Fenton said. “What does the institution look like? Academic profile and such compared to others, sport portfolio and offerings. Are their sports that match and mesh with the sport offerings that we have in the Summit League?
“All of that comes under conversation, so, whether it is Augustana or anybody else, that is what we’re focused on. As it relates to Augustana, again, I know they’ve been focused on building Division I hockey, which is off to a great start.”
What kind of role would a school’s enrollment and/or endowment play?
“They’re factors, but I don’t know if they’re of any greater significance than some of the other things that I mentioned,” Fenton said.
Augustana’s enrollment of just over 2,000 students would be the fewest in the league (compared to current members) by about 3,000. The league high is 16,156 students at Missouri-Kansas City.
Augie’s endowment is lower than eight of the nine current schools, and significantly lower than most. Part of the Viking Bold plan is to significantly boost both enrollment and endowment by 2030. Nobody would argue Augie is a perfect geographic fit.
So, who knows if or when Augie will ever try to make the climb for the Summit again, and be a part of the Jackrabbit and Coyote Jamborees in the tournament.
Remember the USD fan who didn’t care if Augie ever joins the Summit party?
He did mention one caveat.
”If it would help the tournament stay here in Sioux Falls, so be it,” Asmus said. “Because I don’t think anybody from around these parts wants to see it end up in Kansas City, or Omaha, or Minneapolis.”
The Summit League Tournament’s contract with Sioux Falls expires after next year’s event, with an option for 2026.
Fenton, a Brandon resident, told Dakota News Now in February that the relationship between the league and the city is strong, that Sioux Falls has made for a “wonderful” partnership. But, there will still be discussions among conference leaders about if the tourney will stay here, starting this fall.
“We look forward to having a long future here in Sioux Falls, but there’s an aspect of ensuring we go through a process to make sure we’re positioned right for the future,” Fenton said.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 10, 2024 16:27:12 GMT -5
It seems that 2-4 Summit League members will vie to fill the upcoming Missouri Valley vacancy.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 10, 2024 13:05:22 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 7, 2024 0:19:51 GMT -5
Eric Saubert is now a 49er. Meanwhile, Ross Dwelley is out of San Francisco. He currently remains a free agent.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 6, 2024 15:42:16 GMT -5
Eric Saubert is now a 49er.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on May 6, 2024 14:47:00 GMT -5
Georgetown transfer, returning to the Midwest. Looks like Butler hitched another trailer to its bandwagon.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on Apr 30, 2024 9:23:58 GMT -5
Trivia: Jyran has nearly the exact playing height and weight as former All-Pro Colt RB Lydell Mitchell. I don't think they are related.
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on Apr 30, 2024 8:30:48 GMT -5
Awesome. Anyone else getting a NFL tryout?
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on Apr 9, 2024 19:06:39 GMT -5
Rekindling the Pitt-WVU rivalry would be great. I can tell you that Pitt would win a lot of those games, because I've put the Keno Davis curse on the Mountaineers' new basketball coach
|
|
|
Post by Lurking Dog on Apr 3, 2024 13:47:51 GMT -5
Being a successful coach as measured by wins and losses just seems to get harder and harder. And if you're outside the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, or Big East - and you have a successful coach - how do you keep him? It's hard for a Drake to compete against the higher salaries, bigger NIL money, and scheduling advantages of the so-called power conferences. TV has rigged the game. Ok. I'll stop ranting now.
|
|